True friendship is a plant of slow growth.
~George Washington~
Let your heart feel for the
affliction and distress of everyone.
~George Washington~
Liberty, when it begins to take
root, is a plant of rapid growth.
~George Washington~
Reason, too late perhaps, may convince
you of the folly of misspending time.
~George Washington~
Undertake not what you cannot perform,
but be careful to keep your promises.
~George Washington~
To be prepared for war is one of the most
effectual means of preserving the peace.
~George Washington~
Labour to keep alive in your breast that
little spark of celestial fire—conscience.
~George Washington~
I conceive that a knowledge of books is
the basis on which all other knowledge rests.
~George Washington~
T is our true policy to steer clear
of permanent alliances with
any portion of the foreign world.
~George Washington~
If the freedom of speech is taken
away then dumb and silent we may
be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
~George Washington~
I attribute my success in life to the moral,
intellectual and physical education
which I received from my mother.
~George Washington~
Be courteous to all, but intimate with few;
and let those few be well tried before
you give them your confidence.
~George Washington~
Discipline is the soul of an
army. It makes small numbers
formidable; procures success
to the weak, and esteem to all.
~George Washington~
I go to the chair of government with
feelings not unlike those of a culprit who
is going to the place of his execution.
~George Washington~
Associate with men of good quality if you
esteem your own reputation; for it is better
to be alone than in bad company.
~George Washington~
In proportion as the structure of a
government gives force to public
opinion, it is essential that public
opinion should be enlightened.
~George Washington~
True friendship is a plant of slow grow,
and must undergo and withstand
the shocks of adversity before it
is entitled to the appellation.
~George Washington~
We ought not to look back unless
it is to derive useful lessons from
past errors, and for the purpose of
profiting by dear-bought experience.
~George Washington~
I hope I shall possess firmness and
virtue enough to maintain what I
consider the most enviable of all
titles, the character of an honest man.
~George Washington~
Our country's honor calls upon us for
a vigorous and manly exertion; and
if we now shamefully fail, we shall
become infamous to the whole world.
~George Washington~
The very idea of the power and right of
the people to establish government
presupposes the duty of every individual
to obey the established government.
~George Washington~
Nothing is more harmful to the service,
than the neglect of discipline; for that
discipline, more than numbers, gives
one army superiority over another.
~George Washington~
One of his officers, Henry Lee,
summed up contemporary public
opinion of Washington: First in war,
first in peace, and first in the
hearts of his countrymen.
~George Washington~
Over grown military establishments are
under any form of government inauspicious
to liberty, and are to be regarded as
particularly hostile to republican liberty.
~George Washington~
The consideration that human happiness and
moral duty are inseparably connected will
always continue to prompt me to promote
the former by inculcating the practice of the latter.
~George Washington~
We ought to be persuaded that the propitious
smiles of heaven can never be expected on a
nation that disregards the eternal rules of
order and right which heaven itself has ordained.
~George Washington~
If we desire to avoid insult, we must be
able to repel it; if we desire to secure
peace, one of the most powerful instruments
of our rising prosperity, it must be known,
that we are at all times ready for War.
~George Washington~
I am once more seated under my own vine
and fig tree...and hope to spend the
remainder of my days in peaceful
retirement, making political pursuits yield to
the more rational amusement of cultivating the earth.
~George Washington~
I know [patriotism] exists, and I know it
has done much in the present contest.
But a great and lasting war can never
be supported on this principle alone.
It must be aided by a prospect of
interest, or some reward.
~George Washington~
The preservation of the sacred fire of
liberty and the destiny of the republican
model of government are justly
considered...deeply....finally,
staked on the experiment entrusted
to the hands of the American people.
~George Washington~
I am led to reflect how much more
delightful to an undebauched mind,
is the task of making improvements
on the earth, than all the vain glory
which can be acquired from ravaging it,
by the most uninterrupted career of conquests.
~George Washington~
As Mankind becomes more liberal, they
will be more apt to allow that all those who
conduct themselves as worthy members
of the community are equally entitled
to the protections of civil government.
I hope ever to see America among
the foremost nations of justice and liberality.
~George Washington~
On April 30, 1789, George Washington,
standing on the balcony of Federal Hall
on Wall Street in New York, took his oath
of office as the first President of the United
States. Of this he wrote to James Madison:
As the first of every thing, in our situation will
serve to establish a Precedent, it is devoutly
wished on my part, that these precedents
may be fixed on true principles.
~George Washington~
One of George Washington's main concerns
was to make sure that his soldiers had
adequate supplies of meat: A part of the
army has been a week without any kind
of flesh, and the rest three or four days.
Naked and starving as they are, we cannot
enough admire the incomparable patience
and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have
not been ere this excited by their suffering
to a general mutiny and dispersion.
~George Washington~
Following his brief inaugural address to
the Congress, President George Washington
and his party walked over to St. Paul's Church
for divine services. His prayer that afternoon:
"Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that
Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens
to cultivate a spirit of subordination and
obedience to government; to entertain a
brotherly affection and love for one another and
for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large."
~George Washington~
When it was reported to General Washington that
the army was frequently indulging in swearing, he
immediately sent out the following order: The general
is sorry to be informed that the foolish and wicked
practice profane cursing and swearing — a vice little
known heretofore in the American army--is growing
into fashion. Let the men and officers reflect "that we
cannot hope for the blessing of heaven on our army
if we insult it by our impiety and folly."
~George Washington~
In his address of 19 September 1796,
given as he prepared to leave office,
President George Washington spoke
about the importance of morality to the
country's well-being: Of all the dispositions
and habits which lead to political prosperity,
Religion and Morality are indispensable supports
....And let us with caution indulge the supposition
that morality can be maintained without religion
....Can it be that Providence has not connected
the permanent felicity of a Nation with its virtue?
~George Washington~
The new constitution established a president
with powers unheard of in the republican
United States. Some even wanted him to
be king, a thought that GW found ludicrous:
What astonishing changes a few years are
capable of producing! I am told that even
respectable characters speak of a monarchical
form of government without horror. From
thinking proceeds speaking, thence to acting
is often but a single step. But how irrevocable
and tremendous! What a triumph for the
advocates of despotism to find that we are
incapable of governing ourselves, and that
systems founded on the basis of equal liberty
are merely ideal & fallacious!
~George Washington~
Written about Washington after his death
by another of the founding fathers, Thomas
Jefferson: His mind was great and powerful
....as far as he saw, no judgment was ever
sounder. It was slow in operation, being little
aided by invention or imagination, but sure in
conclusion....Perhaps the strongest feature
in his character was prudence, never acting
until every circumstance, every consideration,
was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw
doubt, but, when once decided, going through
his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed.
His integrity was the most pure, his justice
the most inflexible I have ever known....He was,
indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise,
a good and a great man....On the whole,
his character was, in its mass, perfect....it
may truly be said, that never did nature and
fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great.
~George Washington~
President Washington's second oath of office
was taken in the Senate Chamber of Congress
Hall in Philadelphia on March 4, the date fixed
by the Continental Congress for inaugurations.
Before an assembly of Congressmen, Cabinet
officers, judges of the federal and district courts,
foreign officials, and a small gathering of
Philadelphians, the President offered the shortest
inaugural address ever given. Associate Justice
of the Supreme Court William Cushing administered
the oath of office. Fellow Citizens: I am again called
upon by the voice of my country to execute the
functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion
proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express
the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor,
and of the confidence which has been reposed in me
by the people of united America. Previous to the
execution of any official act of the President the
Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I
am now about to take, and in your presence: That
if it shall be found during my administration of the
Government I have in any instance violated willingly
or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides
incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to
the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses
of the present solemn ceremony.
~George Washington~
Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to
acknowledge the providence of Almighty
God, to obey His will, to be grateful for
His benefits, and humbly to implore His
protection and favor, and; Whereas, both
Houses of Congress have, by their joint
committee, requested me "to recommend
to the people of the United States a day of
public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed
by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many
and signal favors of Almighty God, especially
by affording them an opportunity peaceable to
establish a form of government for their safety
and happiness"; Now, therefore, I do recommend
and assign Thursday, the 26th Day of November
Next, to be devoted by the people of these states
to the service of that great and glorious Being who
is the beneficent author of all the good that was,
that is, and that will be; that we may then all unite
in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks
for His kind care and protection of the people of this
country previous to their becoming a nation....to
promote the knowledge and practice of true religion
and virtue, and the increase of science among them
and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind
such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone
knows to be best. Given under my hand, at the
City of New York, the 3rd day of October, a.d. 1789.
~George Washington~
song playing....I'm Waiting for an Answer